Items tagged with NPD Group

Back when I was a kid, mobile gaming meant packing up my collection of He-Man figures, Voltron and GoBot toys, and other awesome 1980s items and bringing them to a friend's house. It's a different world now, one that's dominated by pocket-sized computers (we call them smartphones) capable of playing graphically intensive games. They're not only capable, they're the preferred method for playing games among today's youth. According to market research firm The NPD Group, more kids and teens between the ages of 2-17 in the U.S. play games on mobiles devices like phones and tablets (63 percent) than...Read more...

Market research firm NPD Group released its game sales data for the month of August, which were down 10 percent year-over-year to $207.9 million. This year's new releases just couldn't live up to the blockbuster titles that came out a year ago, including Diablo III for consoles and The Last of Us for PlayStation 4.This timer around, it was EA's Madden NFL 16 that topped the games sales chart, followed by Minecraft. Yes, Minecraft , and that's indicative of why sales are down. Having a game that made its first appearance in 2009 in alpha form and in 2011 as a polished product take the number two...Read more...

It doesn't happen very often, so you'll have to excuse Microsoft if it savors the moment after its Xbox One console outsold rival Sony and its PlayStation 4 system last month, according to data collected by NPD Group. The Xbox One was the best selling game console in the U.S. in April, a month in which overall hardware sales decreased by 4 percent. Microsoft needed a win. Since launch, the PS4 has been pretty consistent in outselling the Xbox One, which no doubt played a role in Microsoft's decision to sell the standalone console without a second generation Kinect motion control sensor. Microsoft...Read more...

It was a bit of a weird month in June for the video game industry. According to a fresh report from NPD Group, overall sales of game systems, software, and accessories in June came to $735 million, representing a healthy 24 percent jump compared to the same month a year ago. It's also the ninth consecutive month of increased sales in the games category, which can be credited in large part to new console purchases. Hardware sales jumped a whopping 106 percent to $292.7 million -- not terribly shocking when you consider that a year ago, gamers were holding out for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One,...Read more...

In the U.S. smartphone market, it's relatively slim pickings for companies not named Apple or Samsung. According to the latest data by NPD Group, Apple and Samsung now collectively account for 68 percent of all smartphones in the U.S., which works out to better than six-in-ten smartphones. That's up from a 52 percent penetration rate in the fourth quarter of 2012. Apple is the biggest winner with a 42 percent share of the market, up from 35 percent one year ago. Samsung, which mostly builds Android devices (while also dabbling in Windows Phone territory), increased its share from 22 percent a year...Read more...

Microsoft earned a bit of bragging rights as we head into a new era of console gaming. As far as the previous generation goes, the company's Xbox 360 maintained its position as the best selling home console (not including handhelds) in the U.S. in 2013 by selling 166,000 units, according to the latest data from NPD. Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in October (hardware, software, and accessories) reached $283 million, the most for any console in the U.S. That's not a bad way to end things as Microsoft looks ahead to its Xbox One launch next Friday. As for the industry as a whole, sales...Read more...

Game related spending declined yet again last month, falling 10 percent $992.5 billion, according to the latest data published by the NPD Group. However, that number doesn't tell the whole store. In fact, it may account for only half of what gamers actually spent on game related software, hardware, and accessories. How so? "When you consider our preliminary estimate for other physical format sales in March such as used and rentals at $190 million, and our estimate for digital format sales including full game and add-on content downloads including micro-transactions, subscriptions, mobile apps,...Read more...

If you want to know why the PC market is struggling, just look at the rapid rise of Internet connected devices. Sure, a desktop or laptop system offers far more functionality than a smartphone or tablet, and PCs aren't going the way of the dodo bird, but at the same time, mainstream users mostly interested in checking their Facebook feeds and firing off the occasional email can do so with a mobile device. Let's have a look at the numbers. According to recent data by NPD Group, there are 500 million Internet connected devices just in U.S. homes alone. The number of connected gadgets per U.S. Internet...Read more...

Last month the NPD Group reported that Call of Duty: Black Ops II led slumping game sales in the U.S., noting that the video game industry as a whole declined 22 percent in December. Fast forward to today and NPD Group is now reporting a 9 percent increase in game sales in January, but that's only because January benefited from an extra week of accounting. NPD Group follows the National Retail Federation's calendar, which adds an extra week of sales every five to six years. This happened to be that year, so January's figures ended up inflated by tallying a five-week period instead of four weeks....Read more...

The video game industry industry declined 22 percent in December, dropping from $4.1 billion in retail sales in 2011 to $3.21 billion in 2012, according to the latest data published by the NPD Group. Software sales were hit the hardest, dropping 27 percent because of fewer releases. "A major culprit in the decline in retail sales in 2012 was the lack of new releases with 29 percent less SKUs across consoles, portables, and PCs," analyst Liam Callahan said, according to Gamasutra. "However, the SKUs that were released generated 8 percent more units per SKU and 11 percent more dollars per SKU." That...Read more...

You can't argue with the convenience of streaming video, provided you're rocking a fast enough Internet connection to watch your favorite movies without annoying hiccups and sudden drops in picture quality. As it turns out, consumers are also finding all those video rental kiosks convenient, and combined with brick-and-mortar store rentals, DVDs and Blu-ray rentals are still the media of choice for watching full-length feature films, according to data by The NPD Group. The NPD Group found that kiosks, brick-and-mortar stores, and movies by mail via Netflix accounted for 62 percent of movie rental...Read more...

According to date compiled by the NPD Group, Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes was the best selling game in the U.S. in the month of June, but game sames overall were down -- way down. Total game sales dropped by 29 percent year-over-year to $699.8 million in June, while software sales tumbled 27 percent to $362.8 million. Hardware sales took the biggest hit, dropping 45 percent to $201 million. Interestingly, game accessory sales climbed by 4 percent to $169.8 million. It was the only category to see an increase. NPD's figures don't tell the whole story, as they only include figures for new physical...Read more...

In the beginning, some questioned whether or not Intel's Ultrabook initiative would catch on. And now? There's little doubt that Ultrabooks are the wave of the future. Market research firm NPD Group says "Ultrabook sales are off to a fast start" so far in 2012, snagging 11 percent of all $700+ Windows-based notebook sales in the U.S. "Ultrabooks have helped establish a market for more premium-priced Windows notebooks at retail," said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at The NPD Group. "The share of sales that the $700+ notebook segment represents jumped from about 12 percent in...Read more...